Of course Ian was treating her badly from the get go: he was already working for the Club when he met Mina. You do the math.
That is one of the points I contest thoroughly, especially since I know girls (and some boys) coming from a "Nuns bunker" school. Among the schools in our city, there is one of them.
This might sound cliched, but that is an observation made over decades, most girls coming from such a school fall into two types. Those who really follow the instructions gained there quite straight (with some modifications possible) and those girls who then cut loose and wild.
Mina is one of those who DID NOT go wild as we can see with her general behaviour and her bucket list. So far so good. But no matter how unworldly Mina was raised/schooled, the Ian of the "game time" would never have landed with Mina at all!
Had Ian behaved as he did during the weeks of the game from the start, he would never have gotten together with her, that is absolutely sure.
And this is even hinted at during some talks with Edwin, where Ian mentions that he could not stop himself from going further and further once he started it. The Ian of "game time" would have repulsed Mina from the get go, their relationship would never have lifted off.
But my point is that Mina's 'innocence' isn't an act at all! It's a choice about how she presents herself.
The question of what it means to be genuinely "good" is one of - if not THE - key themes of Pale Carnations. I don't understand how you can dismiss Mina's struggle with that question so blithely.
Here we have an absolute crash in understanding the other discutant again, rather clearly due to English use. One question: Are you a native English speaker? I am not and going how you understood my post I think you are not one as well.
The "insinuate" in my earlier post I meant to state with that you seem to think I consider Mina´s innocence to be a complete act, which is not the case on my side! I think Mina in part uses her innocence depending on the situation. Sometimes more blatant and sometimes very taken back.
What hints? I see no evidence whatsoever that Mina did anything blameworthy. Ian isn't entitled to play out any of her depraved fantasies, especially when he's rubbing her nose in his philandering. If Ian is frustrated by her lack of participation in an active sex life he always has the option to end the relationship himself. Instead he cheated on her constantly, then rubbed her nose in it in the hopes she'd try harder in bed.
Whatever Mina's flaws, she bears none of the blame for what Ian did.
Same problem as above, the last sentence alone shows that we two talk around or at least understand around each other here.The last sentence of yours quoted above, I said the same differently worded several times myself! Ian´s selfsabotage is the main reason the relationship broke, that is on him alone and never questioned at all!
But there is a flaw of Mina which contributed to the behaviour Ian started to show, it was not the reason for it, but it did not help the situation at all.
I would try to explain better and longer, but here where I live it is already night and I have to work. So I have to cut it short and good Night to all!